GRF Seema talked about urban development and transportation in India. Her focus is on how gender and transportation interact, affecting the lives of citizens in India and how they get around. In India, there is not enough public transportation provided to get everyone where they need to go, so informal modes began to pop up. This includes personal cars driving people around. When this happens, the modes of transportation get very crowded and dangerous to ride at times.

We also talked about sexual harassment women experience on public transport. The dilemma of the group was whether or not quick bandaid files would help ward off sexual abuse. For example, how effective would it be to offer women their own transport cars on things like busses and subways? Once they leave the car, the women would be subject to the sexual harassment all the same. Would these precautions have an adverse affect, making it unsafe for women to go on cars that aren’t gender exclusive?

I think that we need both these quick fixes as well as long term policy to stave off sexual harassment. One student also brought up education: teaching men why it is wrong and how their action affect women would be a great step.

Though it was hard to follow Seema’s talk at the beginning, the connection between gender and transport was established quickly. Seema’s talk was very interesting becauseI found a lot of parallels between her talk about India and the United States. I both places women have to be wary of sexual harassment even though it is usually men who perpetrate it. However, I think the public transportation system in the US is a little bit more efficient than in India.